


So much for the perfect team.

by RaygayRaygay



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Gen, Quirks exist in the pokemon world, Will I continue this one day? perhaps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 08:24:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18007316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaygayRaygay/pseuds/RaygayRaygay
Summary: Mashirao had long awaited the day he turned 10 years old so he could begin his pokemon journey. Alas, his team was not going to plan.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> https://fairy-blossom-03.tumblr.com/post/183244426545/heres-my-piece-for-my-poke-hero-bb-i-drew-a IS THE ART PARTNER PIECE TO THIS FIC!!!! LOOK AT IT IT'S SUPER CUTE

Ten. That was the magic number in Mashirao’s life. He had waited his whole life for that magic number; Ten years of age and he could start his adventure. His home of Iki town was a small, close knit community, and he loved living there for sure, but there was always the want for something more burning in his chest. He watched his friends leave for their own adventures in the years prior, and now Mashirao was itching to go on his own. He had spent countless hours planning his team; he’d choose Rowlet as his starter, pick up Pikipek early on in his adventure, then Mareanie and Mareep on Akala, a Meowth to keep him company like the one his mom has when he lands on Ula’ula, and finally Jangmo-o from Poni island. 

At least that’s what he had _planned_ to get. That was all ruined for him when he arrived at Professor Kukui’s… hut. 

“What do you mean you ran out of starter pokemon?!” Mashirao’s jaw dropped as Kukui scratched the back of his head.

“Yeahhh, you just missed out, a trio of girls just came by and picked up the last set of starters I was holding here at the lab, but fear not! I can lend you this here rockruff so you can go out and catch your own pokemon!” Kukui said with a flourish, handing Mashirao the rockruff by his feet. 

Mashirao took the rockruff in his arms, but he couldn’t hide the disappointment on his face. He’d spent the best part of ten years dreaming up his first meeting with his own Rowlet, sure he hadn’t decided a nickname on the bird pokemon, but clearly that didn’t matter anymore.

“Don’t forget to take these pokeballs, you never know what you’ll run into!” Kukui patted Mashirao on the back as he handed him a string of ten pokeballs. Mashirao meekly nodded before returning the Rockruff to it’s pokeball and placing it on his belt. 

There were plenty of pokemon about, but none were the starter he was after, and it seemed that all the Pikipek had fled the area. With a sigh, Mashirao ended up sitting down in the grass beside the stairway to Iki town, head against his knees as he let out a few quiet sobs. All of his friends had gotten exactly what starter they wanted when they all started their journeys, so why did his luck have to be so poor? 

He had no clue how much time was passing, but as his tears fell, Mashirao felt a small presence appear by his side. Blinking away his tears, he raised his head to look at the presence. Staring up at him, was a small Pichu. Exceptionally small. Barely the size of Mashirao’s still-growing palms. The Pichu stared at him for a few seconds more before shivering, giving out a weak “Pii”. It was then Mashirao noticed the rain pouring down on him. He was soaked. And the Pichu was too. Mashirao slowly picked the Pichu up and held it to his chest, wrapping his tail around his body to keep the two of them warm. This Pichu was clearly the runt of it’s litter, and had been abandoned by its mother, poor thing. Mashirao let out a small sigh, sure it wasn’t what he planned for all those years, but he couldn’t just abandon the tiny thing now that it had seemed to grow attached to him, as it nuzzled into his neck. 

Careful so as not to disturb the quietly snoring Pichu, Mashirao reached to his belt for one of the pokeballs that Professor Kukui had given him, and gently tapped it on the back of the Pichu’s head, the red light absorbing the small creature into it. An easy capture, no fight required. He’d have to practice battling wild pokemon with the little thing later he guessed. 

Slowly Mashirao raised from his crouched position on the ground, placing the filled pokeball onto his belt, alongside Professor Kukui’s Rockruff, and began the quiet journey to the hut on the beach. The rain must have been sudden and spooked away the wild pokemon, as there were none to be found on the small trip. 

“Professor Kukui, I’m here to return your Rockruff!” Mashirao called as he entered the hut, looking around, only to see the building empty with the exception of a Snubbull and Stufful huddled together by the tank holding the Luvdisc.

“Ah, Mashirao, perfect timing!” Kukui’s voice echoed, “I’m downstairs, come quickly!”

Mashirao nodded to himself as he rushed towards the stairs, swinging over the banister with his tail, “What’s wrong Professor?” it had to be urgent if he wanted him to hurry.

“Wrong? Oh nothing’s wrong! I just wanted to show you your new friend Rotom before he merges with this pokedex I’m going to be giving you.”

Mashirao stood there for a moment, not entirely sure how to process what the professor just said. “You're giving me a Rotom. After you made me go out and catch a starter for myself already?” he gave the professor a quizzical look. 

Kukui waved the boy over, “Yeah, I figured as an apology for you not being able to pick the starter you wanted, I'd at least give you the latest in Pokédex technology! It starts off as a basic Pokédex, but when you fuse it with a Rotom, it almost becomes akin to a new form of Rotom!” Kukui explained excitedly, pulling out a pokeball and releasing the Rotom from within.

The Rotom practically glitched around the room, barely able to contain its excitement to finally be out of its pokeball. It paused for a brief second in front of Mashirao, the pair staring into each other's eyes, one with excitement and the other with curiosity, before the Rotom zoomed back towards Professor Kukui and into the Pokédex in his hands. 

The Pokédex stayed still, but only for a brief moment. It quickly flashed into life, and once again, zoomed around the room before floating before Mashirao. “Nice to meet ya buddy! I hope we can get along as we travel Alola together!” 

Nodding slowly, Mashirao holding out his hands for the Rotomdex to float down into, “Nice to meet you Rotom, my names Mashirao!” The Rotomdex fluttered down into his hands, the electricity causing a small fuzzy feeling to spread over them. Alright, that slightly helps ease the bitterness Mashirao was feeling from having to use a Pichu to start with. Maybe things were looking up?

Either way, it was time to head home and tell his parents what happened - maybe he’d get some homemade malasadas out of his crummy luck? He pocketed the Rotomdex and gave the pokeball containing the runt Pichu a light pat. He’d think up a name for them later. Right now he was hungry.


	2. Chapter 2

Mashirao bit into his malasada as he watched his Pichu tackle another Yungoos to the ground. He still hadn’t come up with a name for it, and at this point he was out of ideas, nothing seemed suitable for such a tiny Pichu. At that moment, said Pichu returned to Mashirao’s side, looking up, nose twitching as it stared at the malasada in Mashirao’s hand. He pouted slightly, having sworn that he wouldn’t share his food with it, but how could he deny those adorable button eyes? He sighed as he tore off a small portion of his malasada and handed it down to the Pichu. 

The Pichu stared at the morsal, it’s eyes shining, before it grabbed it and scurried up Mashirao’s arm, nestling against his neck - he was grateful that this Pichu didn’t appear to have static. 

They sat there, munching away at their malasada parts for a while, Mashirao contemplating his next steps and Pichu… being Pichu. Do some more training, head home to stock up on food, then head to the trainer school. That was all Mashirao really had planned.

Until a stranger approached them that is.

“Hey, kid, you just started your big adventure, right?” the strangers voice was barely louder than a whisper, and it sounded tired, like he hadn't slept in a while.

Mashirao nodded warily, unsure of what the stranger wanted, and even more unsure if he should stay put or run as fast as he could back home. Sure he was a trainer now, but he was still a kid. He was still new to this. He was still scared.

“Then I have a proposition for you,” the stranger came closer, pulling out a pair of pokeballs from his jacket, “Beat me in a pokemon battle while I use this pokemon,” he shook his left hand, “And I’ll give you this here pokemon as a prize,” he shook his right hand. It sounded too good to be true. But that didn’t stop Mashirao’s eyes from lighting up. He had only run into one pikipek, but it had flown off at the sight of his Pichu, and by the time he had gotten a pokeball out, it was too high for him to reach.

Mashirao glanced at his Pichu then back at the pokeball in the strangers right hand. He doubted that he’d win. But there was nothing he would lose from losing his first trainer battle, right?  
“Alright,” Mashirao said, hopping down from his perch on the fence, “You’re on!” He grinned, helping his Pichu down onto the ground, at least Pichu seemed to be interested in fighting too.

Or at least it was until the stranger sound out a fully grown Samurott.

Mashirao stared up at the Samurott, then back down at his tiny Pichu. This… This wasn’t gonna be good.

The stranger grinned, leaning back to let out a hardy laugh, their hood falling back to reveal the signature cap of Team Skull. Oh no. This went from bad to worse.

Sure Team Skull were mostly a ragtag team of punks, but when one managed to have a pokemon this strong, it usually meant that it wasn’t stolen, but their starter from when they did their island challenge - or worse, like now, their starter from another region.

Panic. That was Mashirao’s instinct right now. Panic and run, or panic and scream. He was starting to shake as his mind quickly flipped between the two options, when Pichu stepped up in front of the Samurott. It wasn’t scared. Hell it looked confident. Damn, Mashirao couldn’t let himself panic now, not with his partner seeming so fine with their situation, it was just a simple pokemon battle, and if worse came to worse and he lost, he would just knock the grunt over with his tail and run home as fast as he could.

Taking a deep breath, Mashirao clenched and unclenched his fists, before striking a, what he hoped looked, determined pose. It was now or never.

“Go ahead kid, give it your best shot! Hell, I’ll even let you get a free hit with your tiny winy Pichu,” the grunt laughed, the exhaustion gone from his voice, instead filled with malicious joy.  
Mashirao gritted his teeth. He would make that grunt eat their words.

“Pichu, quick, use grass knot!” It was one of the few moves that Mashirao had figured out that the runt could use, and boy was he thankful for it. The Samurott, previously laughing alongside its owner, was now face first in the ground. That would teach him, or at least Mashirao hoped.

The grunts laughter cut short as he saw his Samurott collapse to the ground. Glaring, he yelled for the Samurott to get up, it was as though he were foaming at the mouth in rage that a Pichu could cause such damage, type-advantage be damned. Mashirao winced at some of the… choice words to leave the grunts mouth. His mum would wash his mouth out with soap if he so much as _thought_ of those words, let alone say them.

“Samurott, use razor shell!”

Mashirao took a sharp breath, reading himself to catch his Pichu should it be sent flying.

Only for the Samurott miss.

Both the grunt and Mashirao looked in shock at the pair of pokemon, the Pichu looked to be snickering, stood in place where the Samurott had targeted, whereas the Samurott looked shocked and angered at the same time. 

_Quick! Mashirao! Think of something!_ “T-Th- Pichu, use Thunder!” It wasn’t like it was going to work, but the Samurott wouldn’t let Pichu land another grass knot so easily. 

He heard the grunt begin to laugh maniacally at his command, and the Samurott almost followed suit. Except Pichu didn’t look back to question it’s master. Instead it closed its eyes and charged it’s cheeks, letting out a quiet _‘Pii’_ , before opening its eyes and screaming _‘CHUUUUUUUU’_ and releasing a thunder directly at the Samurott.

The Samurott stood, literally shocked still for a moment, before collapsing entirely. The grunt had stopped laughing and instead looked at the Pichu in horror. Without saying a word, he returned the Samurott to it’s pokeball, and threw the other ball at Mashirao, turning tail and sprinting away in silence.

Catching the ball with his tail, Mashirao knelt down to pet the Pichu’s head, “You’re amazing Pichu! And I think I know what to call you now too! How does Arashi sound?” The Pichu’s ears picked up immediately, and it’s eyes shone as bright as the summer sun, Mashirao chuckled, “I’ll take that as a yes, alright Arashi, let’s meet your new friend.”

Mashirao rolled the pokeball down his tail and into his open palm. It was a quick ball, not the most common among regular trainers, but a good ball nonetheless. A few more seconds of looking it over - mostly in the hopes of finding a name scrawled on in sharpie so he could return it (there wasn’t one) - and Mashirao clicked open the ball. 

_Oh neat, an Aipom_ , was all Mashirao thought as he saw the pokemon pop out of the ball. _Wait. Wait a second._ Mashirao stared at the pokemon before him, who was busy mimicking Arashi.  


“Sh… Shiny?”


	3. Chapter 3

After going home and discussing his options with his parents, and contacting the local Officer Jenny to see if there were any cases of a missing shiny Aipom - there weren’t - Ojiro decided to keep the Aipom - now named Gumi - and finally head for the Trainer School in Hau’oli. Sure he’d already had his first trainer battle, and his parents had given him enough potions, pokeballs, and money to last him a while, but he heard that you got freebies if you beat the crash course at school. And freebies were always good.

He let both Arashi and Gumi ride on his shoulders instead of sitting in their pokeballs as they seemed to be enjoying the ride, wind ruffling through their short coats of fur. Mashirao let his tail wag happily as he entered the school gates. Only to freeze in his tracks at the sight before him.

A trio of girls. All with a starter pokemon each. 

He knew these girls. Mina had moved from Heahea city to Iki town when she was still a toddler, and Kyouka had lived in Hau’oli her whole life and then. Then there was Tooru, his next door neighbor. Who looked awfully smug standing there with a Rowlet on her shoulder. 

Mashirao should have known. He knew that the girls had gained permission from their parents to start their journey early, but had postponed their island challenge because of personal reasons. But to think that they would wait until the day _he_ started _his_ journey. That was just cruel.

“Ah, Mashi! Took you long enough to get here!” Came Tooru’s cheerful voice, acting as if she did nothing wrong as she zoomed in for a hug. 

Mashirao pouted. He was not impressed. Not one bit. Tooru _knew_ it was his birthday that day. Tooru _knew_ he had been planning to pick Rowlet since he first heard of the island challenge. But Tooru took the last Rowlet from him anyway.

“Uhhh, Tooru, I don’t think Mashirao wants a hug right now…” Kyouka kindly pointed out, as she reached down and picked up her Litten. 

Tooru released Mashirao from her grasp to look at his face. Of course he couldn’t see her expression. She was invisible after all. But from the way her grip on his arms changed from warm and welcoming to nervously light. She knew _something_ was wrong with him at least.

Mashirao could almost see Tooru tilting her from side to side as she gauged just how annoyed he was. With what he felt was most likely a concurring nod, she released him from her grasp entirely.

“Soooooo…” Mina said, feeling the tension in the air, “What brings you to the trainer school Mashirao?” She flashed him a toothy grin as she perched her Popplio on her shoulder. 

Mashirao continued to pout for a few more seconds as he stared at Tooru some more before sighing and letting his shoulders drop, “Because I’m a new trainer and I heard you get free stuff here if you complete the course.” 

The trio nodded in unison, “A TM and some pokeballs, and if you find the right lady, a quick claw,” Kyouka said, pointing to the claw that now hung around her Litten’s neck.

“The TM is a nice gift but, UGH, could that at least have given us an attack rather than a dumb move like work up?” Mina groaned, pulling the TM out of her pack and waving it in the air a little.

“Hey! Work up is a perfectly good TM for beginner trainers like us!” Mashirao said, “It can change the tide of a battle by giving you the upper han-”

“IS THAT A SHINY AIPOM?” Tooru interrupted as she pointed a gloved hand at Gumi.

“-D. Yes, yes this is Gumi,” Mashirao sighed as he moved his tail in front of her, allowing said Aipom to hop on it, “And this,” he gestured to Arashi, still on his shoulder, “Is Arashi, _my_ starter.”

The trio all gaped at Arashi, who proceeded to hide in Mashirao’s hood.

“THEY LET YOU HAVE A PICHU?”

“PICHU WAS AN OPTION?”

“I WANT A PICHU!”

Came the girls loud chorus of replies, making Mashirao, Arashi, and Gumi all flinch in sync. “He wasn’t an ‘option’ I had to go out and catch him myself. If you’re that desperate for a Pichu I can show you where to find them when I’m done…” his voice was quiet as he tried his best to comfort his Pokemon. 

Mina pushed herself into Mashirao’s personal space, until their noses almost touched, “You gotta! You really really gotta!” She half-yelled before bouncing backwards, “Eeeeeeeeeeee! I _love_ the whole Pichu line! Oh! But which Raichu do I choose? Kantonian or Alolan? They’re both so cuuuuute! Kyo-Kyo, To-To, you _gotta_ help me choose!”

“Alolan”

“Kantonian”

Came their simultaneous replies. The girls paused, before turning to glare at each other. Or, at least, Mashirao _assumed_ Tooru was glaring back at Kyouka. It certainly felt like there were sparks flying between the two as Mashirao backed away and to the side of the girls.

“W-well, while you guys discuss over which Raichu Mina should go for, I’mma go do this Trainer School challenge to get my TM, oh, and thanks for telling me about the quick claw lady! I’ll be sure to get it on my way through!” Mashirao said as he shuffled away from the girls and headed for the entrance to the school proper.

\----

The battles were, unsurprisingly, much easier than his first battle - most likely because they were _supposed_ to be easy to win (didn’t want to discourage any freshly turned ten year olds from pursuing their dreams after all). He found the quick claw lady before he found his first trainer, opting to string the claw around Gumi’s neck so as to speed up it’s fury swipes. 

He was in the midst of reorganising his backpack - having simply thrown the free goodies in there between battles (with the exception of the oran berries, which were placed in the pouch hanging from his belt) - when a soft blue hand was thrust in front of his face. Ah, yes, Tooru ‘the traitor’. “What do you want.” Mashirao grumbled as he pushed the hand out of his vision and continued his organising.

“You said that you would show us to where we could find Pichus after you were done with the challenge. Well. You are done with the challenge - we watched your battle with the Joseph, you wiped the floor with him!” Tooru retracted her gloved hand, absentmindedly petting the Rowlet in her other arm, “So, Pichu time, right?”

Mashirao gave a disgruntled sigh, he had hoped that the girls would get so wound up in their argument that they would forget what started it in the first place like their usual arguments. Apparently not however. “Yeah yeah, just, lemme finish up sorting my bag out first, please?” 

“HE’S BEING HIS BLAND SELF RIGHT NOW! LET’S BATTLE IN THE MEANTIME, ‘KAY?” Tooru yelled as she turned to where Mina and Kyouka had taken place by the school’s main entrance. Much to the displeasure of Mashirao and his partners. Tooru was much too loud, as per her usual self.

Mashirao could only assume that they had agreed, as not long after the sounds of attacks clashing against one another could be heard. Another quiet sigh as Mashirao gave his Pokemon a few gentle strokes each to calm them before returning to his bag.

This was going to be a long day.

**Author's Note:**

> god i wish i had the energy to complete this fic in it's entirety, alas, i don't care for bnha as much as i used to :pensive:


End file.
